This document defines key vocabulary related to ecosystems, including environment, ecosystem, population, community, and habitat. It describes how living things get what they need from their environment and how ecosystems can change both through natural causes like floods and fires as well as the activities of living things, such as beavers building dams. Both beneficial and harmful human impacts on ecosystems are discussed, such as adding irrigation but also removing trees which can cause erosion.

1. Vocabulary
• environment: everything around a living thing
• ecosystem: the living and nonliving things affect
each other, or interact to form an ecosystem
• population: a group of the same kind of living
things that live in the same place at the same
time
• community: all the populations that live in an
ecosystem
• habitat: where each populations lives; provide a
population with all its needs and includes living
and nonliving things

2. Environment
• Living things get what they need from their
environment.
• When many kinds of living things share an
environment they must also share the thins they
need.
• Air
• Food
• Water
• Shelter

3. Ecosytems

4. Ecosystems
• Ecosytems can change because of nature and
because of the activities of living things.
• Nature:
– Floods or fire can kill many living things and
destroy habitats
• Fire doesn’t destroy the seeds in the ground. As the
seeds that survive grow, animals that feed on them will
return.
• Floods brings a new layer of rich soil to a riverbank.
New plants grow in the soil.

5. Ecosystems
• Living Things:
– Some changes help the living things meet their needs.
– Beavers cut down trees to build dams and lodges in
streams. The other animals that lived in the trees
must find new homes.
– Sometimes the animals move to a nearby part of the
ecosystem.
– Sometimes the ecosystem is change dso much that
the plants and animals can no longer live there.

6. Ecosystems-People
• Good:
– Add irrigation to dry areas to grow crops
– Plant new forests where old ones have burned down
• Harmful:
– Removing trees can cause erosion
– Cause animals to leave an area and plants that grow
there to disappear
– Polluting the water and air can harm plants and
animals

7. Fill in the blank
• 12. Everything around a plant or an animals is its ____________.
• 13. All the frogs living in a pond make up a __________.
• 14. A pond is an ___________ of living and nonliving things that affect one
another.
• 15. The edge of a pond is a good ____________ for cattails.
• 16. All the populations in an ecosystem form a ___________________.
habitat
environment
community
ecosytem
population

8. Discussion Questions
• How are ecosystems able to survive after
fires?
– A fire doesn’t destroy all the seeds in the ground.
The seeds that survive grow into new plants. As
the plants grow, animals that feed on them return
to the area.
• How can damage to an ecosystem harm
animals that live there?
– The animals lose their homes and food sources.